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Oakville Beaver | Thursday, August 17, 2023 | 26 insidehalton.com Call to book your Respite Stay 905-527-9300 Daily rate available Y Beautifully furnished suite V Accessible bathroom and kitchenette V Personalized care plan V 24-hour on-site nursing V Delicious menu options V Shuttle service for scheduled errands V Full-service housekeeping V Activities to enrich your body and mind O pSalle Ta Retirement Community be Stgnatibre 18 Plains Road West, Burlington INDEPENDENT LIVING | ASSISTED LIVING | RESPITE www.LaSalleParkRetirement.com && IBNEWS META BEGINS NEWS BAN FOR INSTAGRAM AND FACEBOOK USERS IN CANADA RAISA PATEL rapatel@thestar.ca Meta's plans to block news content for Canadian users of Facebook and In- ae ution over when the company would officially retaliate against the Liber- al government's online “In order to comply with the Online s Act, we have begun ey process of ending news availability in Canada. These changes start today, and will be im- plemented for all people ac- cessing Facebook and In- Canada over the course of the next few a statement from the company read. Meta's move is in re- sponse to a recently passed law, formerly known as Bill C-18, that the Liberals have the digital advertising mar- ket. The law would compel platforms like Meta and Google — which share, re- purpose and direct users e online news content — strike deals with the pub. lishers who produce those stories, and face financial Penalties f they don't, A number of Canadian news eid (including Tor- star, which publishes the Toronto Star and Metro- land's six regional daily and more than 70 commu- nity newspapers in Onta- rio) supported the legisla- tion. Both platforms have long promised to take ac- tion against the law, which they have repeatedly said unduly forces them into payment deals for driving key traffic to online news outlets and generating rev- enue for publisher: ‘News outlets voluntari- ly share content on Face- Metroland file photo Meta argues it shouldn't be forced into deals just because its users choose to share links to news content. id Instagram to ex- poo ‘their audiences and help their bottom line. In contrast, we know the peo- ple using our platforms don't come to us for news,” said Rachel Curran, Meta Canada's head of public policy. "In the future, we hope the Canadian government will recognize the value we already provide the news mastry and Consider 2 olicy respo! holds the Ooi of a a free and open internet, champions diversity and innovation, flects the interests of the entire Canadian media land- cape.” Despite stating that news sharing is not a top draw for users ers of Metals platform: ever- theless told a 2 Senate com- mittee in May that Face: book delivered more than 19 billion clicks to Canadi- an news publishers in the past year, resulting in more than $230 million in esti- mated value. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR CANADIAN NEWS? Once Meta's process to ban Canadian news is com- plete, Canadians won't be able to access any news content from either pub- Scan the code to STAY CONNECTED [Oy receive top stories. —and more — delivered to your inbox. blocked from viewing con- hep on a news outlet's pro- and they won't be able. to share links to news content on their own profiles, either. The ban in- cludes everything from written stories to audio-vi- sual content. CAN | STILL VIEW AND SHARE NEWS FROM OUTSIDE CANADA? According to Meta, no. “News publishers and broadcasters outside of la will continue to be able to post news links and content, however, that con- tent will not be viewable by people in Canada," the company § says. Meta has previously sig- nalled that international news outlets like The New York Times and BBC would be roped into its ban, be- cause it believes that ‘out lets that have partial op tions in Canada are Paso targeted by the legislation. Anyone outside Canada will not be affected by the lishers or on Facebook and Instagram. That means people will be will still be able to access news content.